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OK, we’ve been pretty hard on the 1.1.1 iPhone upgrade, the people who’ve happily upgraded, and Apple for having done it. For people not interested in the additional applications and who bought into a two year AT&T contract, it probably makes perfect sense. We even recommend the upgrade to a colleague that would never find any use in the additional apps - they actually didn’t even use email application either. That is cool. To each their own.

If you are an American who was done with their contract or willing to go to AT&T for a 2 year commitment, then the iPhone lockage doesn’t really affect you and you probably don’t see the situation the same as the rest of the world. For you, the decision is easy. You don’t need to put it on another carrier and you don’t need any additional functionality than what Apple says you need. What is all of the whining about?!?!

The reason we are making such a stink is that the iPhone is such a cool phone, such an amazing piece of technology that it deserves to be set free. We are not saying that we don’t accept the consequences for the actions of taking to another carrier that won’t charge us $1000/month to use it overseas. Or what about the people who live outside of AT&T’s coverage area? We are simply saying that Apple is making some seriously questionable moves here. Is this a sign of things to come?

We know that Apple is really not pulling all of the strings. They’ve made some unholy alliances, however, that keep punishing their customers more and more. Is Apple really trying to smooth the experience of owning a mobile phone by choosing only AT&T? No. They chose Tmobile in Germany - why not in the US? The experience really wasn’t that great getting a phone through iTunes anyway - it was nice to not have to deal witha human. The reason they chose AT&T was because they are getting a royalty on the iPhone for exclusivity. Is this deserved? That is a debate to have at some other point - it certainly wasn’t just for the visual voicemail.

It isn’t just the telecoms with Apple recently. Apple seems to be playing more and more the role of RIAA enforcement agent than ever before. Rather than build a feature into iTunes that takes any of your music and makes a free ringtone out of it, they force their customers to pay AGAIN to shorten the music and make it a ring tone. As many people have said, this is absurd and is clearly putting the record labels interests over their customers.

We aren’t privy to behind the scenes negotiations. Perhaps Apple is getting bullied into these deals by the record companies and telecoms. Or maybe the bean counters are beating the consumer advocates in Cupertino. No one knows for sure.

Movies and videos on iTunes have been stalled for awhile. Perhaps the digital content providers are really playing hardball with Apple. Maybe as part of that deal, Apple will scour your hard drive and look for what the movie companies consider illegal content and delete it off of your Mac when you enable the movie rental service on iTunes. Is this any worse than totally destroying an iPhone that has a legal SIM card in it from another carrier? No.

We just don’t want to see that day.

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I don’t think I can remember an Apple move that provoked such strong, yet universal negative feedback from the press as the iPhone Firmware update 1.1.1 is receiving. While there are always Apple rabid fanboys that would cheer on Steve Jobs as he robbed a bank, the more objective press and readers around the world have all voiced their negative opinion of the iPhone lockdown move included with the 1.1.1 update. Some sources have indicated that Apple’s update might even be CRIMINAL in its purposely "bricking" of anySIM opened handsets. While Apple has mostly covered itself in its licensing agreements and with public notices about the effects of iPhone 1.1.1, this move - likely forced by its agreements with AT&T, is a public relations nightmare and could do more to hurt the Apple brand than anything since Steve Jobs retook the helm, 10 years ago.

Gizmodo: iPhone Revisited (Verdict: Don’t Buy)
Engadget: iPhone users calling for class action lawsuit over firmware v1.1.1
NY Times: Altered iPhones Freeze Up
Wall St. Journal:Apple Update Spurs Problems For iPhones When Modified
Macworld : Requiem for a third-party iPhone app
Macrumors: iPhone 1.1.1 Aftermath
ZDNet: Best to avoid iPhone update 1.1.1 if you can, iPhone firmware 1.1.1 released; breaks everything
LA Times: Apple’s latest software update shuts down some hacked iPhones

These are the press companies that are usually nudged to give Apple good reviews lest they not get advanced looks at the latest equipment, invited to Apple press events and be the benefactor of Apple’s advertising spend. Extremely strong words. Who got to do the early reviews of the iPhone? Why?

The grand total of the 1.1.1 update is this: you get mobile iTunes STORE (you already have 99% of the iTunes desktop functionality in the iPhone iPod.app). You get some user interface tweaks which aren’t going to change your iPhone experience much. The negative - you lose access to all of the developer apps and sim unlock. While this is only going to effect the small minority (under 10%?) of iPhone users that unlocked their phones and put applications on it.

What is different about this is Apple’s malicious intent on their customers. Apple’s update doesn’t just invalidate the SIM card which, in itself, would have been enough to infuriate most users - it Bricks their phones. Let me say this again so it sinks in:

APPLE PURPOSELY DESTROYS ITS OWN PRODUCT TO KEEP IT FROM BEING USED IN WAYS IN WHICH IT DOES NOT SEE FIT

Is it legal to install other applications or to unlock your iPhone? Yes.

Is it legal to use another SIM card from another carrier in it? Yes.

Did Apple know that its "updates" would destroy iPhones that were being used on other networks? Yes, it most certainly did. Various independent reports conclude that Apple is knowingly and purposely bricking its own phones. Whether this is able to be proved in a court of law is questionable.

A lot of people are going to say that "you bought it and the license agreement said not to mess with it and you did so now you deserve to lose your money" or the ever popular "IF you put a Chevy engine in your Ford truck don’t blame Chevy if it don’t work right idjit". Yes of course we knew we were voiding our warranties when we hacked the iPhone. Like most people savvy enough to hack into their iPhone, we were also savvy enough not to take Apple’s Bricking software. This doesn’t make it right.

Why is Apple doing this? It is most certainly to enforce its agreement with AT&T and to assure it’s European telecoms partners that it can lock its customers to the networks that pay a royalty fee (10%-30% of the talk, data and sms bill depending who you ask). I say royalty fee because Apple, for this fee is not providing any type of service to the customer in exchange for their monthly charges. One could argue (and no doubt, Apple’s lawyers will at some point be made to) that the Visual Voicemail feature on the iPhone that Apple worked on with AT&T could constitute a feature and rationale for the extra fees. However, I don’t think Apple’s PR is set to announce this any time soon.

And that is just it - this isn’t really about legalities. It is about public perception. It is about the Apple brand and the brand loyalty of its customers. Apple’s brand is without a doubt, its most valuable asset. Apple certainly has a bright short term future with its lead position in the digital entertainment revolution, however its high stock price is by and large a function of its brand.

People see Apple as an alternative to Microsoft. An alternative to the status quo. "Think Different". The company that cares for its customers. The "cool company"

Consumers in this category like to think they are in charge. They want freedom or at least the illusion of it. It isn’t Apple cool to have to follow the whims of a big corporation that is in fact acting as a proxy for AT&T. (and in other matters for the record labels)

Nokia, for one, is taking full advantage of the lock down perception that Apple is throwing off. Their new N-Series Open campaign was launched today and seems to be grabbing a lot of positive attention. The reality is that their devices don’t really hold a candle to the iPhone on most fronts. They also sleep with the carriers as much as Apple is currently doing.

These latest actions that Apple are promoting are hurting brand in a way that will not be calculable in certain terms. However, to see the technology press so unequivocally and wholeheartedly bash the media darling surely must be cause for fear in Cupertino. This will take more than a $100 gift card to remedy.

Edit: This was posted before editing…more sources of negative publicity added as well as some vulgarities removed. Please return to flaming away!

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For those of you who feel a little upgrader’s remorse - we’ve figured out a way to get your iPhone back on its feet. The 1st 1/2 of this is sourced from TUAW’s Erica Sadun - who is single handedly turning TUAW from a pompom flailing Apple Fanboy site into a L33T hacker underworld, we have the 1st part here.
This will net you an iPod in iPhone’s clothing - the phone part isn’t working yet. If you are still interested in this part - and we wouldn’t hate you if you weren’t, you’ll need to run a little VooDoo on the iPhone modem’s baseband setting that Apple has molested. Go out the the Internets and find the following files:

-ICE03.14.08_G.fls
-ICE03.14.08_G.eep
-bbupdater

Upload them onto your iPhone’s usr/bin using iBricker or iNdependence. (bet you missed those Apps didn’t you?)

Next ssh into your iPhone or run locally from the terminal.app:

chmod +x bbupdater
bbupdater -f *.fls -e *.eep

Your terminal will go Matrix for a few minutes. After all of the Baseband flashing goodness is over, you should be able to successfully run anySIM and after a restart will have a FULLY working 1.0.2 iPhone.

Welcome to the other side of the fork. It is WAY more fun over here.


EDIT: a Polite Commenter says that we got the latest bits of info from a hackintosh member. While he may have come up with this info we obtained it from a different source see post #134 and had it saved from last time around when we unbricked a friend’s phone…

http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6827&page=14

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This is a story about my father's iMac. But it could be anybody's dad, and any 20-inch Intel iMac equipped with ATI Radeon HD graphics cards.

At the end of August, my 85-year-old father ordered one of the new skinny iMacs. A few days after it arrived, I took a train to Boston and helped him transfer files from an ancient Mac running OS 9. It took most of a weekend, but by the time I left, everything was working fine.

On September 26, he sent this e-mail.

The Mac crashed. The pointer did not move. I restarted with the power button and it came up with a white bar pattern. I restarted with the pointer and apple and all was normal. — Dad

It was the first of long string of similar messages. His tale of woe — and Apple's (AAPL) eventual response — continues below the fold.

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Choosing Time Magazine's invention of the year isn't always an easy task — I know because I had to do it more than once. But this year, in my humble opinion, the decision was a no-brainer. Lev Grossman, who reviewed Apple's (AAPL) iPhone for Time when it came out in June, edited the Inventions section and wrote the lead story, which I've reproduced in full below (Time is Fortune's sister publication and Lev is a friend). To see the rest of the selections, you can go to TIME.com. Or you can buy the magazine.

Invention of the Year: The iPhone

By Lev Grossman

Stop. I mean, don't stop reading this, but stop thinking what you're about to think. Or, O.K., I'll think it for you:

The thing is hard to type on. It's too slow. It's too big. It doesn't have instant messaging. It's too expensive. (Or, no, wait, it's too cheap!) It doesn't support my work e-mail. It's locked to AT&T. Steve Jobs secretly hates puppies. And—all together now—we're sick of hearing about it! Yes, there's been a lot of hype written about the iPhone, and a lot of guff too. So much so that it seems weird to add more, after Danny Fanboy and Bobby McBlogger have had their day. But when that day is over, Apple's iPhone is still the best thing invented this year. Why? Five reasons:

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